Quotes About Language

what I had almost remembered was uncommunicable forever.

Through all he said, even through his appalling sentimentality, I was reminded of something—an elusive rhythm, a fragment of lost words, that I had heard somewhere a long time ago. For a moment a phrase tried to take shape in my mouth and my lips parted like a dumb man's, as though there was more struggling upon them than a wisp of startled air. But they made no sound, and what I had almost remembered was uncommunicable forever.

Fault. In English or in Cantonese, that was the word we were all afraid of. I held it like a seed in my mouth. As kids, the three of us loved to suck on dried plums. Long after the sour and salty fruit dissolved, the seed stayed sweet, the true secret. Now I was afraid my secret guilt would start to grow sweet, and I would never want to spit it out.

As recent immigrants, they wanted their children to speak and read English well. Miss

Americans speak few languages, know little about foreign cultures, and remain unconvinced that they need to rectify this.

If human beings could communicate in mathematical language -- which is more poetical than any other language -- the world would be an easier place to live. Perhaps one day we will follow Nature's example, for her immense book is written in mathematical language, as Galileo has affirmed.

One must be careful with words. Words turn probabilities into facts and by sheer force of definition translate tendencies into habits.

Escribí sin odio contra el lenguaje del odio y contra la desmemoria y el olvido tramado por quienes tratan de inventarse una historia al servicio de su proyecto y sus convicciones totalitarias.

Everything stated or expressed by man is a note in the margin of a completely erased text. From what's in the note we can extract the gist of what must have been in the text, but there's always a doubt, and the possible meanings are many.

How confidently we believe in our interpretation of other people's words.

Saudades, só portugueses Conseguem senti-las bem. Porque têm essa palavra Para dizer que as têm.

No one understands anyone else. We are, as the poet said, enisled in the sea of life; between us flows the sea that defines and separates us. However hard one soul struggles to know another soul, he can only judge by what words are spoken - a formless shadow on the floor of his understanding.

Signora, tutte le religioni sono vere, per quanto possano sembrare tra di loro opposte. Sono simboli differenti della stessa realtà, sono come la stessa frase detta in varie lingue; tanto che non si intendono gli uni con gli altri anche dicendo la stessa cosa.

Literature simulates life. A novel is a history of what never was and a play is a novel without narrative. A poem is the expression of ideas or feelings in a language no one uses, since no one speaks in verse.

This isn't the case with literature. Literature simulates life. A novel is a story of what never was, and a play is a novel without narration. A poem is the expression of ideas or feelings in a language no one uses, because no one talks in verse.

Minha pátria é a língua portuguesa

Civilization consists in giving something a name that doesn't belong to it and then dreaming over the result.

It offends me that a man can master the Devil, but not the Portuguese language.

Quien no ve bien una palabra , no puede ver bien un alma.

To express something is to conserve its virtue and take away its terror.

There is no enduring emotion without syntax. Immortality depends on the grammarians.

Não é esse o caso da literatura. Essa simula a vida. Um romance é uma história do que nunca foi. (...) Um poema é a expressão de ideias ou de sentimentos em linguagem que ninguém emprega, pois que ninguém fala em verso.

Lesen heißt durch fremde Hand träumen.

What really shocks me is how these wizards and masters of the invisible, when they write to communicate or intimate their mysteries, all write abominably. It offends my intelligence that a man can master the Devil without being able to master the Portuguese language.